


Height is a social construct

by oxidation



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Happy Ending, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Jeong Yunho is Whipped, M/M, Mutual Pining, Song Mingi is Whipped, angsty boi mingi, yunho has the braincell ateez share
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24071059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oxidation/pseuds/oxidation
Summary: Mingi says he hates height differences. Yunho isn't convinced.
Relationships: Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, mentioned Choi Yoojung/Kim Doyeon - Relationship
Comments: 7
Kudos: 199





	Height is a social construct

'Height is a social construct,' or so Hongjoong always says. Mingi never believed his friend's bullshit shorty agenda. But at this very moment, he wanted to believe in it more than anything.

Mingi loved being tall. It had perks. There was no shelf he couldn't reach and no concert where he couldn't see the performance. Whenever a tall person puts on weight, it doesn't gather as much criticism. Whenever there's a height requirement for anything, he's sure he'll pass it. Whenever a short teacher had scolded him, they wouldn't be as harsh, because how intimidating can one be to a person whom one has to look up to speak to?

Being tall had some cons too. Tall dancers just looked awkward, so Mingi had to work twice as hard to be a better performer. If a tall person's bad at basketball, people behave as if a zombie apocalypse has ensued. There's no way a tall person could be at the front of a crowd because no one else would be able to see anything. Short people are always asking tall people to get things from tall shelves. Short people are always just complaining about how fast tall people walk. Short people are the worst kind of people.

Don't misunderstand Mingi though, he did not have a preference for people as tall as or taller than him. If he did, he'd have no friends. He just couldn't stand a short person because of what had just happened.

He was in the dance club's practice room with his best friend (and long time infatuation) Yunho, who was just sitting beside Hwanwoong and Hongjoong, the smallest midgets he's seen and everyone he's ever known seems to be cooing. ' _Shut the fuck up about the height difference_ ,' was all that he could think. Alas, all he could do was smile continuously and chuckle a little at Yunho's "Woah Hongjoong's so small he could fit in my pocket," or Seonghwa comparing the size of his and Hwanwoong's hands. He did not care to check how much larger his hand was compared to Hwanwoong's. He just pretended to put effort into the conversation so that no one could detect how pissed off he was. It's moments like these that made him appreciate Yeosang's bluntness. Oh, how he wished he could be as sarcastic as Yeosang was, so he wouldn't have to deal with the cult of short people that was forming in front of his eyes.

"I'm going to get some ice cream. Does anyone want anything?" Yunho asked, snapping Mingi out of his thoughts completely.

Mingi didn't want anything so he just shook his head. The rest asked Yunho to get some ice cream for all of them and of course, they all wanted different ice cream flavours. He just sighed.

"Mingi, come with me, I'll need help carrying the hundred thousand ice creams and these Lilliputians have hands too small to help me out," Yunho said.

Mingi nodded and left with Yunho.

At the convenience store, he didn't intend to make conversation with him but Yunho being as restless as he is, couldn't take silences very well. He took out his phone from his pocket and showed him a photograph of him and Hongjoong hugging each other. Yunho said, "These pictures are quite old but somehow we've both not grown taller than this. Funny right?"

"Yeah. Very funny. Comedy might have peaked with that observation. Lee Soogeun who? I only know Jeong Yunho. Now could you put your phone back? I think I might be getting frostbite because of all the ice cream I'm holding," Mingi replied.

Yunho was puzzled by Mingi's passive-aggressive response. He kept his phone back and started picking up ice cream but his reaction caught him off guard. Mingi just carried the ice cream to the cashier while Yunho stood there, completely frazzled by his tantrum. He caught up to him and gently slapped the ice cream onto the billing counter.

"Will you explain what happened?" Yunho asked.

"No."

"Seriously? Mingi please tell me if something is wrong. You hate sarcasm and you hate being blunt, what was that? Even back at the practice room, you seemed unlike yourself."

"It's not a very big deal."

"Just say it."

"I don't like short people," Mingi whispered, which Yunho didn't think was possible.

"Bullshit. What is it?" Yunho yelled, catching the attention of the bored cashier and the lady buying a pregnancy test next to them.

"Hongjoong is your best friend. How can you hate short people?"

"First of all, you're my best friend. How dare you? Secondly, I thought I didn't but I cannot stand short people at all."

"I do not think that you have a genuine bias against short people. There's something else. Tell me. You might feel better after opening up about it to someone."

Mingi was not the kind to hide his feelings for too long when confronted about them so he just had to say it.

"So, there's this guy I really want to go out with."

"Of course it's a guy!" Yunho exclaimed.

Mingi shot him a 'please shut up look'.

"Sorry to disturb you two but card or cash?" the cashier asked. Mingi handed her his card and got back to Yunho.

"He's almost as tall as me and no one ever shuts up about how cute he looks with shorter people. It gets on my nerves. The worst part is that he could breathe within the fifteen-mile radius of a hobbit and people would squeal because of the height difference! There's nothing cute about height differences."

"You almost cried watching 'Strong Woman Do Bong Soon' because of the height difference between Park Hyungsik and Kim Boyoung. You find height differences endearing. You may be good at lying but I can see right through you."

"See! This is the problem! The basis of our heteronormative society, yes we live in a society, that idealizes a tall and handsome knight in shining armour who saves the petite and pretty damsel in distress, which is downright disgusting because it excludes the LGBTQIA+ and it's misogynistic too. This is everyone's fantasy and I cannot change the fact that a height difference is considered adorable. Being tall and gay is a curse."

The cashier's jaw dropped at Mingi's soliloquy. She was about to start applauding when Yunho shot her a judgemental look, practically begging her to not.

"You pulled an 'I wear size 13 Nike's' and justified it by pointing out that societal norms are outdated. You need to chill Mingi!"

"Yunho I never get to be the little spoon. How can I chill?"

"I think the ice cream might melt if-" the cashier began to speak.

"Let's head out and then continue," Yunho said as he smiled at the cashier politely. He grabbed the bag of ice cream. Mingi took his card back and left with him.

The two were walking quickly to prevent the ice cream from melting before they reached the practice room. To Mingi it seemed like only milliseconds had passed before they reached the practice room. And much to his relief, almost as soon as the two had entered, they went out of the room just as fast.

They were out the door, now looking at the starless evening sky.

"Should I go first?" Yunho asked. Mingi nodded.

"I don't think height differences matter. It's very arbitrary. We don't build relationships like they're the plot for a film. Sure, we like to idealize them but that's not real life. We love saying that 'opposites attract' but no strong relationship is built on that. You need trust, courage and all the other metaphysical things in between. Mingi, we do have power over picking whether we want to be unhappy because of tropes or whether we want to be happy living life the way we want to."

"I understand that but look at Doyeon and Yoojung. They seem so perfect together. I can't help but feel bad about the way things are."

"You know why people are envious of Doyeon and Yoojung?"

"It's the height di-"

"If you bring up 'height difference' once more, I will not hesitate to hit you."

Mingi zipped his lips and threw the invisible key away.

"The reason we all want something similar to what the two share is because Yoojung describes 'love' as the warm feeling she gets when Doyeon smiles. It's because Doyeon is always trying to protect Yoojung, even when Yoojung doesn't see it, we do. We all want that. Not the height difference. What do you want, Mingi?"

"I want to cook eggs for him the way he likes them. I want to cuddle with him. As creepy as this may sound, I want to smell his hair and be able to smell it every day. And I want him to look at me. That's all," Mingi said, with his eyes brimming with tears.

"Please never cook eggs for him, you'll end up giving him food poisoning," Yunho said sincerely.

"I was tearing up a little here and you're dissing my cooking skills. Fuck you Yunho," Mingi said, barely keeping in his laughter. He began to laugh and the tears from earlier bid him farewell. Yunho wipes away those tears and lets Mingi embrace him. They hug for a while before Yunho pulls away and sits on the ground. Mingi sits next to him and rests his head on Yunho's shoulder.

"Who's the lucky guy?" Yunho asked but he didn't look at Mingi.

"It's you," Mingi replied, getting up a little, to look into Yunho's eyes.

Yunho was bereft of words. It was not a surprise but he did not expect Mingi to confess to him like that. Mingi's actions made his infatuation obvious to Yunho. He had imagined what Mingi's confession would be like and he always expected a 'movie-like' romantic gesture from him because Mingi was a sucker for clichés. His raw and impulsive actions were unexpected. He did not think he'd be as moved as he was, but it was as if his soul had begun dancing in his chest. An inexplicable warmth had settled into his skin. Mingi had taken his words seriously.

"I don't expect you to answer me ri-"

"I knew about your little crush on me."

"Little? Correction: massive. I was and am whipped for you."

"Alright!"

"If you knew, why didn't you say anything?"

"I just wanted to observe you at first and I found myself being drawn in. We became so much closer that I was too proud to open myself up to you. After all, pride is the name we give to fear."

"Put it however you like it, you're a hypocrite and you chickened out."

"Sure," Yunho said, smiling. Mingi too was smiling like an idiot. 

"Mingi, we are not of the same height," Yunho said, breaking the brief silence.

"How?"

"I'm 1 cm taller."

Mingi wanted to punch Yunho's face, not in a violent manner, but a cute one and he did not want to use his fists, but his lips and on Yunho's lips instead of his face.

"May I k-i-s-s y-o-u?" Mingi asked.

"You dork, you spelt it out."

"I'm a shy person."

"…you can by the way," Yunho said. His cheeks were not the same flimsy baby pink as they were when he exercised, but the tomato crimson red as they were when he was drunk.

Mingi inched closer and he kissed Yunho at a pace that was neither too slow nor too fast. Mingi couldn't keep his hands to himself so he held Yunho's face in his hands. Yunho moved closer too. He held Mingi in place by the waist. He held him like a fragile work of art. 

They both could only think of that moment to be perfect enough for the episode to end right there and let the credits and next week's episode preview roll. Unfortunately, Wooyoung decided to step out for some fresh air and witnessed their dear little kiss. It wasn't sexual for him to be mortified but it was intimate enough for him to feel uncomfortable. The two pulled out of the kiss when they heard the door open and they sat there, wide-eyed, looking at Wooyoung.

Wooyoung went back in without saying a word but he slammed the door hard enough for Yunho to know what was going to happen.

3.

2.

1.

A loud, high-pitched shriek was heard from the room. Yunho and Mingi did not expect it to be as loud as it was but they shared a look that only the two of them understood and laughed.

They held hands and stayed in each other's embrace while the notification sound of their phones went off every other second to provide for a really shitty BGM. 

Nonetheless, all was well, even if there was no obvious height difference. Height is a social construct anyway.


End file.
